'Power, gas tariffs would have increased, had sit-in not been there'

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan said Thursday had the sit-in not been there, the government would have also increased the prices of electricity and gas manifolds, ARY News reported.

Addressing the participants of the Azadi sit-in on Thursday, Imran Khan said, “I assure you when one day Pakistan will be transformed into a developed country, people will remember you and your sacrifices which made it possible”. He vowed that his party will not let these sacrifices go in vain.

The PTI chairman claimed that the government was intended to heighten the power and gas tariffs, adding that had the sit-in not been there, government would have increased these prices manifolds.

“The government had to reduce the petroleum prices, in the wake of the Islamabad sit-in”, Khan said, adding that politicians have joined hands with each other inside the assembly and there is no one to talk in favor of public.

Referring to the ruling PMLN and PPP, he said, “They have made a deal to rule the country one by one and not to touch each other. PM Nawaz and the Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah appointed NAB chief of their choice, who instead of holding them accountable is busy ending cases against them”.

The skipper also slammed the Finance Minister, saying that he has not witnessed a man as incapable as Ishaq Dar in the entire country, adding that Mr Dar and the Sharif family are the biggest tax evaders of the country.

“They know that if ever PTI rose to power, they are going to be held accountable for their misdeeds”, he added.

Imran Khan lamented that the expenses of Raiwind palace are being paid from the taxes collected by the poor people, while some of the most prominent and influential figures of the country pay negligible amount of tax.

He also said that the three months of electricity bill of the Presidency is more than Rs 1 crore, while that of PM House is Rs 65 lac, yet a commoner bears hours of load-shedding and is then greeted with over-billing.

The chairman PTI said that a parliament with fake mandate will never speak for the rights of the people.

Quoting the example of Indian PM, Imran Khan said whatever kind of person Narendra Modi is, but one thing is sure that he is an honest man.

“Modi after taking charge of the office of Indian PM asked the authorities to provide the list of 670 Indians, who had acquired loans and did not pay back”, he said, but unfortunately in our country no one is ever asked to pay back the sums he obtained.

He demanded PM Nawaz Sharif to bring back the looted wealth of the country from abroad, while at the same time countering his own statement that how will the premier do so, for his own assets are lying out of the country.